Two-Wheeler Sales Report For the Month Of March And Financial Year 2016-17

The heavy discounts offered by manufacturers on BS-III vehicles resulted in increased sales figures in March 2017

The 2016-17 financial year was the year which saw the biggest turmoil in the automobile industry. Demonetization had a big share in pulling down the sales numbers in the last two months of 2016. Those two months recorded less sales figures than the entire year. Meanwhile, the BS-IV emission norms which were implemented by the Supreme Court from April 1, 2017, resulted in rapid stock clearance of existing BS-III vehicles by dealers in the month of March. According to the figures claimed by a few reports, around 6 lakh two-wheelers were sold in the last two days of March thanks to the heavy discounts offered by dealers on all the BS-III two-wheelers left in stock.

It was the same financial year which experienced both the extremes in sales figures within a short time period of 6 months. Let's have a look at the performance of various manufacturers during financial year 2016-17.

Hero -

Hero MotoCorp, tagged as one of the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturers, ended FY'17 with its highest ever sales at 66,63,903 units. The company recorded a growth of 0.5 per cent compared to 66,32,322 units it had sold in the previous financial year. Though the crown of bestselling two-wheeler was snatched by the Honda Activa from the Splendor, it is still the most selling in the country and HMCL also continues to be a dominant market leader in overall sales. Hero offers a lot of products in the two-wheeler market, which is one of the main reasons for its outstanding sales figures. Another benchmark HMCL achieved during the fiscal is surpassing the six lakh-plus monthly sales on five occasions in a single year – March 2017 (6,09,951), October 2016 (6,63,153), September 2016 (6,74,961), August 2016 (6,16,424) and April 2016 (6,12,739).

Considering March’s statistics, Hero MotoCorp sold 6,09,951 units in March 2017, registering a marginal hike of 0.56 percent against the 6,06,542 units sold in March 2016.

Honda -

Honda crossed 5 million units and recorded the highest sales it ever received in any financial year. The company sold 50,08,103 units in FY'17, which was 12 per cent more than the FY’16 sales of 44,83,462. The most popular scooter in India, the Activa, became the best-selling two-wheeler of the country, defeating the Hero Splendor. Honda’s automatic scooter’s sales crossed three million mark for the first time and with 33,51,604 units sold, the company saw 16 per cent growth in sales compared to 28,92,480 units sold in FY'16.

Bajaj -

Bajaj introduced a whole new bunch of updated Pulsar and Avenger series of motorcycles and also launched the all-new Dominar 400 and V12 motorcycles in this financial year, yet the home-bred bikemaker failed to make business and saw a drop of 4 per cent in FY'17. The company sold 32,19,932 motorcycles this fiscal against 33,58,252 units sold in FY'16. The company saw a hike of 5 per cent in the domestic market, while receiving a drop of 16 per cent. Bajaj has a strong forte in the sales of powerful commuter motorcycles, which include the entire Pulsar range, along with the newly updated Avenger series. These are the motorcycles responsible for the majority of sales figures for the company.

In the month of March 2017, Bajaj reported a decline of 8 per cent in sales, selling 2,44,235 motorcycles against 2,64,249 units in the corresponding month last year.

TVS -

TVS sold a total number of 28.57 lakh units in FY'17. The company saw a growth of 11.2 per cent over the 25.69 lakh units sold in FY'16. The first half of the fiscal showed a record hike of 19.3 percent while the growth stood at just 3.6 per cent in the second half. The Jupiter is one of the bestselling scooters offered from TVS in the country today and the Apache 200 4V, which was launched some time back, also contributes towards healthy sales figures for the company.

TVS' two-wheeler sales increased by 10.7 per cent from 2,26,643 units recorded in March 2016 to 2,50,979 units in March 2017.

Yamaha -

Yamaha registered a growth of 27 per cent in sales during March 2017 as compared to the corresponding period last year. The company clocked domestic sales of 76,144 units (including Nepal) in March this year against 60,032 units in the corresponding month last year. Yamaha launched the FZ25 in this financial year, which is the most powerful locally manufactured motorcycle in the country for Yamaha. Major contribution in sales figures is from the FZ-16 and R15 which still sell in good numbers.

Royal Enfield -

Despite the limited target audience, Royal Enfield recorded phenomenal sales figures of 6,66,490 units in FY'17. The company recorded an overall sales growth of 31 per cent against 5,08,154 units sold in FY'16, which is a big number. The evergreen models, the Classic 350 and the Bullet 350, contribute a major chunk in the sales figures while the newly-launched Himalayan has yet to make a mark as far as sales are concerned.

Sales for March 2017 were recorded at 60,113 units, showing a hike of 17 percent as compared to the 51,320 units of the same month last year.

Suzuki Motorcycles -

The recently launched products, Gixxer and updated Access, are two of the best products from Suzuki and have enabled the bikemaker to cross the annual sales mark of 350,000 units in FY'17, which is a 12 per cent rise over last year’s sales. The company registered a whopping 74 per cent increase in their March 2017 sales figure at 36,029 units as opposed to 20,673 units in March 2016.

The Indian two-wheeler industry received a growth of 5 per cent overall in FY'17. The new fiscal year now starts with a strict environment-friendly step as the government implemented stringent BS-IV emission standards. This also led to an increased price tag on all the vehicles. However, there is a satisfaction of saving the environment to some extent on the personal level, which should justify the extra price that you pay.